King Kong grosbeak
The King Kong grosbeak or giant grosbeak (Chloridops regiskongi) is a prehistoric species of Hawaiian honeycreeper, that was endemic to Hawaiʻi. It had the largest beak of the three Chloridops species known to have existed. The King Kong grosbeak was described from fossils found at Barber's Point and Ulupau Head on the island of Oʻahu.[1] It was 11 inches (28 cm) long, making it one of the largest Hawaiian honeycreepers. The osteology of the mandible strongly suggests that C. regiskongi was a sister-taxon of Rhodacanthis.
| King Kong grosbeak Temporal range: Early Holocene | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Fringillidae |
| Subfamily: | Carduelinae |
| Genus: | †Chloridops |
| Species: | †C. regiskongi |
| Binomial name | |
| †Chloridops regiskongi | |
The unusual name given to the species came from a reporter's misquoting of ornithologist Storrs L. Olson’s discovery of the then-unnamed species as being "a giant, gargantuan, King Kong finch."[2]
References
- James, Helen F.; Olson, Storrs L (1991). "Descriptions of Thirty-Two New Species of Birds from the Hawaiian Islands: Part II. Passeriformes". Ornithological Monographs. American Ornithologists' Union. 46: 39–43. doi:10.2307/40166713.
- Harold Douglas Pratt (2005). The Hawaiian Honeycreepers. Oxford University press. p. 212. ISBN 0-19-854653-X.
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